ABOUT

Leslie Buck has been a natural garden designer and aesthetic pruner in the San Francisco Bay Area for over two decades. During that time, she has lectured regularly and led many workshops, including her specialty workshop “Pruning for Beginners.”

She holds a fine arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, attended the School of Fine Arts in Bordeaux, France, and studied horticulture at Merritt College, where she met her mentor Dennis Makishima, a world-renowned pruning instructor and bonsai artist.

She has worked, taught, and volunteered in hundreds of private landscapes as well as dozens of public gardens, including Portland Japanese Garden, Hakone Japanese Garden, and Tassajara Zen Center.

In 2000, Leslie studied in Kyoto with Uetoh Zoen, one of the oldest and most highly acclaimed landscape companies in Japan. Her time in Japan became the subject of her memoir, Cutting Back—a story full of heart and humor.

Drawing from her experience in Kyoto, Leslie has planted native gardens around her house in California. She continues to sketch whenever she travels and loves sailing in the Berkeley Bay.